


the ghost in me was true (but you were haunted too)

by elliotfromseattle



Series: the fallout (or, i am the only person on this entire planet who cares about peanut holloway) [2]
Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Chicago Firefighters (Blaseball Team), Gen, The Grand Unslam, The PODS, The Wyatt Masoning, Unlimited Tacos (Blaseball Team), oh i should tag events that this references too huh, ok thats enough tags love y'all xoxo elliot, rated T for swearing and alcohol mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27765730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliotfromseattle/pseuds/elliotfromseattle
Summary: the unlimited tacos take the chicago firefighters to their favorite fast food chainsoft sequel to my other peanut holloway fic
Relationships: Peanut Holloway & Peanut Bong & Peanutiel Duffy
Series: the fallout (or, i am the only person on this entire planet who cares about peanut holloway) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031172
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30
Collections: We Are Fanwork Creators





	the ghost in me was true (but you were haunted too)

**Act I: i know you're fine (but what (do i do?) (about the fallout?))**

Purples and reds danced across the sky as Sun 2 set over the horizon. The air was warm, with the occasional cloud floating by lazily overhead. This would all have been totally normal and peaceful, if not for the ripped holes throughout the sky where the fabric of reality had torn. A large bank poked out of one hole, pointing sideways. A packed six-lane highway looped into this reality through one tear and out of it through another. 

On the ground, things were even weirder. The terrain was ever-changing--Figueroa Street could turn into Santa Monica Boulevard could turn into the monorail that transports tourists up to the Gletty at any moment. Signposts pointed in all directions and often offered conflicting information. Street lights shone too bright and in all the wrong colors, and the constant honks of cars stuck in traffic made it difficult to think. Navigating this city seemed impossible to the Chicago Firefighters, who quietly fretted about what the response times would be if a fire were to break out. 

"So, uh, where exactly are we going?" Declan piped up from the back of the large group of players moseying on down a fragmented street. 

"Seriously, Declan, weren't you paying attention? Take those headphones off!" Rosa snapped at him. 

"No, I was busy distracted by uh, whatever that is," he pointed at a palm tree floating across the sky, slipping his iconic cat ear headphones off his ears to rest on his shoulders. 

"It's a palm tree!" Lou piped up cheerily. "We don't have those in Chicago, where we're from."

"Yeah, I know it's a palm tree, I just." Declan shook his head. "You know what, nevermind. I don't care how many times I've been here, I'm just never going to understand Los Angeli." 

"Oh, it's not that complicated after you get used to it," A gentle voice piped up from the front of the cluster. "I've only been here for a bit, but I've gotten the hang of it I think."

The Firefighters watched the back of Valentine Games' head as they spoke--their hair cascading down their shoulders as, despite their reassuring words, they kept careful watch of their surroundings. 

"See," They pointed at the sky, toward a Vlons poking out of an interdimensional rift, "That means we're almost at the Out-N-In-N-Out."

"Wait, what?" Sexton Wheerer and Basilio Mason piped up simultaneously. They gave each other an odd glance, before Sexton continued, "My friend, we're not going to the Out-N-In-N-Out. We're going to the In-N-In-N-Out-N-In-N-Out."

"I thought we were going to the Out-N-N-Out-In-Out." Rat Mason squeaked, scurrying along in the middle of the pack. "This IS the way to the Out-N-N-Out-In-Out, after all."

With a crack of thunder, the skies opened up and rain began to pour. The Firefighters collectively took cover under a nearby awning while the Tacos looked up at the sky in wonder. Rat managed to get seven steps out of what was sure to be a beautiful and intricate tap dance routine before the rain suddenly stopped. "Wow, 14 seconds!" Vito wrapped his stopwatch in a twenty dollar bill and slipped it into his pocket. "We haven't had rain for that long since season 6!" 

The Firefighters cast cautious glances at each other as the group resumed walking towards the unidentifiable fast food establishment. Peanut Holloway quietly took up the rear, grateful for once that his (mostly) invisible form allowed him to quietly observe. He'd never particularly liked the Los Angeli. For starters, the infinite realities existing within it made analyzing his surroundings difficult. It had also been the location of one of the first major sightings of The Shelled One. It had been nearly a year since his death, but the scars, or rather, the thousands of peanuts floating inside his body, still lingered.

But The Shelled One wasn't the only thing occupying Peanut's mind. He cast his eyes over the wayward group of players until they finally locked on to one oddly-shaped glass head.

Peanut Bong kept toward the front of the group, deep in discussion with Basilio Mason over whether the secret menu of wherever they were headed to included something known as "Hedgehog Style" or if that was the restaurant across town. 

It wasn't that his cartoonish mannerisms were particularly out of place with the rest of the group--they were certainly less out of place when they inadvertently passed through the Experimental Prototype Community Of Yesterday (EPCOY) part of the Los Angeli. But as Bong--or Nutty, as the Tacos called them--entered into a complex handshake with a passerby monochrome mouse, Peanut realized the source of the unease that had been lurking in the pit of his stomach. 

Nutty seemed... normal. 

Well, normal enough, at least. Despite their shared names, he never actually got to know Nutty particularly well. He felt his conscience correcting him: it wasn't despite their shared names, but because of their shared names. Something about the whole situation had always made him want to ignore Nutty ever existed. But now Peanut was mentally kicking himself for not having a baseline to compare current-Nutty to. 

He would just have to go based on how everyone else was doing. He went through the list:

  * Peanutiel was still deeply entrenched in Peanut Idolatry. He'd talk your ear off--about the six laws, about the importance of peanut-eating, about how The Shelled One isn't actually dead and how this is all part of his master plan--if you let him. It was definitely a little creepy, but the Firefighters didn't seem to mind so long as he didn't shirk his duties. He was floating along with the group silently, having been kindly asked not to bring it up around the Tacos on the flight over. 
  * Jess busied herself by training. She was learning how to pitch, apparently. Peanut knew that nightmares of hitting that final home run against the Shoe Thieves kept her up at night. When she called last week, she mentioned beginning to go to therapy. 



He realized that that was everyone he had managed to keep tabs on. 

It made sense. He hadn't exactly cultivated many friendships before the PODS thing. He had a vague idea of where everyone landed. He still had no idea why they had all landed in such odd places. Perhaps it was The Shelled One's idea of a final cruel joke on the misfortunate. More likely, either The Monitor or The Commissioner just didn't care where they ended up. 

It wasn't until that moment that it had dawned on him how many of the former PODS should have been walking the endlessly chaotic streets with the group. 

Before Peanut could dwell on that any further, the group arrived at a blindingly white building. Several yellow arrows pointed directly to the front door, and a large sign overhead read OUT-N-OUT-N-OUT-N-IN. A seemingly infinite number of cars lined up in the street, waiting for the drive thru. Employees in oddly shaped paper hats walked down the line, taking orders for customers who Peanut calculated wouldn't make it up to the window for at least an hour. 

The first thing Peanut noticed inside of the restaurant was the bright red tile that lined the walls. The place almost looked like a parody of a XX50s diner, with vintage light fixtures hanging above the booth style seating. On one wall hung a large cursive neon sign that simply read "Quality you can!" Several employees worked behind the counter underneath a menu board with one item, HAMBURGER, listed for sale. 

"Well, seems simple enough," Lou said, flipping her long blue hair as she walked up to the register, "I guess I'll order first. I'll have one hamburger!"

The restaurant erupted in loud boos. 

"Come on Lou," Basilio Mason tutted, "Don't you know about the secret menu?"

* * *

And so, Peanut found himself sitting at a cramped booth, lodged between Mcdowell Mason and Sexton Wheerer as Valentine Games dropped off a bright red tray loaded with an assortment of burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Grateful that the Tacos had taken the responsibility of ordering for the group, he gingerly picked up one of the burgers. 

"Oh, the 2X2 buccaneer style, great choice Peanut!" Mcdowell and Sexton said simultaneously. 

Peanut froze, staring at the burger he was about to take a bite of. Did they just...? 

"Oh, sorry," Sexton started, looking sheepish "That just.--"

"Happens sometimes" Mcdowell finished. 

The three hunched over their burgers in silence. Valentine came back with several drinks, passing a lemonade to Peanut "so he doesn't get scurvy from that burger."

The 2X2 buccaneer style, by Peanut’s analysis, appeared to be two beer-battered patties, two slices of cheese, topped with fried sardines and calamari, all on a brioche bun. Basilio Mason assured him that it was an Out-N-Out-N-Out-N-In specialty as he took a seat on the other side of the table. Joshua Butt noticed Peanut's quiet distress at being surrounded by the other team and slid in next to Basilio, followed by everybody's favorite tabby cat, Socks Maybe. She began swatting at french fries on the table, providing a necessary conversation starter for the others. 

Peanut glanced around the restaurant. At the booth behind Basilio and Joshua sat Peanutiel, who stared unblinkingly at a burger, while Lou, Declan, Rat Mason, and the sentient palm tree known as Basilio Fig chit chatted about video games--apparently they were all huge fans of something called Dewstar Mountain, and were working out a way to play together.

Seated at the booth behind them was Justice Spoon, holding Baby Triumphant in her lap. She was attempting to feed him fries, but the toddler was laughing and clapping at Nutty, who, ever the entertainer, was bending and twisting their own arms into spaghetti-like shapes. Valentine dropped a second tray stacked with food on their table, causing Nutty's eyes to briefly transform into large, pink hearts that literally jumped out of their head.

But it wasn't until Peanut looked at the fourth booth, where all five of the Firefighters pitchers were taking turns arm wrestling against Vito, that it dawned on him few Tacos there really were. In fact, the amount of Firefighters nearly doubled them. 

Peanut felt a pang of guilt deep in the space where his heart should be. The flame that sat there flickered a bit. The Shelled One had taken six of the players from the team--nearly half their roster. 

As if sensing his shame, a coyote wearing a purple Tacos cap--Halexandry Walton, Peanut remembered--popped her head out at Peanut from under the table. 

"Oh. Uh. Hello. Hex." Peanut stammered in his typical monotone.

Hex bit the burger out of Peanut's hand and scampered off to the other side of the restaurant. 

Peanut blinked. 

"Oh, don't mind her," Three voices rang out. At least Peanut could find relief in the shock on Joshua's face when their tablemates spoke like a hivemind. 

"Hey, uh, I get it if this is too personal, so you don't have to answer, but, what's uh, what's going on with..." Joshua trailed off, his face reddening as he spoke. Instantly deciding he didn't want the answer, he excused himself to get a drink, Socks riding on his shoulder. 

Peanut watched him go, realizing that he was surrounded again. He looked cautiously at Basilio sitting across from him. They shrugged and passed him a burger. 

"Query: what style is this?"

"Hotdog style." They grinned, pointing at the tiny hot dogs floating around in Peanut's body, "Thought it would be appropriate."

Peanut took the bun off the burger--no hot dogs in sight, just tomato slices and mozzarella sticks. 

"It's Jaylen's favorite burger in the alternate reality where she's a two star pitcher for the Tacos," Basilio clarified. "We took this dimension's Jaylen here once to try it."

"She hated it!" Mcdowell laughed, slamming the table. 

Peanut smiled, taking a bite. It was better than the other burger, at least. He looked at the Tacos around him, calculating the best way to phrase his question. 

"I have a query. It is okay if you do not wish to respond."

"Is it about how sometimes we--"

"--speak at the same time?" Basilio finished Sexton's sentence.

"Affirmative."

The table went silent. Music crackled overhead out of the restaurant's speakers, punctuated by the sounds of Rivers Rosa losing an arm wrestling match. Rat Mason turned from his booth and gave Sexton a small nod, who in turn turned to look Peanut in the eyes--no small feat, considering he's invisible. 

"Do you remember The Grand Unslam?"

Peanut thought back. He remembered SOMETHING weird happening in Los Angeles. He remembered The Shelled One appearing in the sky, spinning in his uniquely threatening way. The phrase "DID YOU TASTE THE INFINITE?" echoed in his head. 

"Sorry, are you nodding? It's kind of hard to tell."

"Sorry. Affirmative. I am nodding."

Peanut took another bite of his burger as Sexton continued:

"When spacetime tore... something happened to the entire team. For a few days, it was as if..."

He trailed off, grasping for the right words. Basilio caught his drift.

"It was as if we were one being. Our thoughts and actions were all as one. We all, for a little bit there, were Wyatt Mason." 

Peanut nodded, not sure if he actually understood. 

"There's some things that, if you go through it as a group, it changes your relationship as a group permanently. We ripped a hole in the fabric of spacetime during season three, infinitely fracturing our city. Our consciousnesses melded together in the chaos. And... Our names all changed."

Peanut stopped breathing for a second. Why did he not hear about this before? His memories pre-PODS were always fuzzy, but something as major as that should've caught his attention, right? He was suddenly grateful that he'd started that diary. 

"We all became Wyatt Mason," Basilio continued from where Sexton left off. "All fourteen of us. We never spent a moment apart. We'd just been getting used to it when the Commissioner took it upon himself to try and fix us."

"Query: How do you mean?"

"We don't really understand what he was doing," Sexton said, "Something about calibrating our frequencies. But, well, our names aren't Wyatt Mason. For the most part."

"No, it seems that most of you gained your original names back."

Mcdowell chuckled heartily, his large body reverberating with each laugh. "Buddy, you don't really think all of our last names were Mason before, do you?"

If Peanut had a visible face, it would've turned bright red. The peanuts and other assorted small objects that were housed within his body became agitated, vibrating in place, as the flame where his heart belonged shrank down a bit. 

"Hey, it's okay," The three Tacos said at once. They all paused and took a deep breath before Basilio continued:

"We don't expect everyone to know our entire history. We know how convoluted it is. Plus, it... brought us all a lot closer. I'm sure you and the other Peanuts have a similar bond."

"We do not."

The table was silent. Peanut wasn't sure if they were processing his reaction or just giving him space to elaborate further. He took care in calculating his next sentences. 

"Our situation was under different circumstances than yours. The Commissioner did not even try to fix our names. And..." He swallowed his nerves, wondering how much detail was too much, "We did nothing to be chosen. We were not chosen on merit or anything else, as far as I can compute anyway. We just happened to have the same names before."

Basilio nodded. "Yes, of course, I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that. You were all on different teams anyway, right?"

"Yes." Peanut ignored the voice in his head telling him he could've made more of an effort. Telling him he could've reached out to the other two at any time if he wanted to. Telling him that he could've reached out to ANY of the former PODS at any time if he wanted to badly enough. And that he was a bad person for not wanting to, or for wanting to but not knowing how--he wasn't sure which was the truth at this point. He sipped his lemonade until he was sucking on nothing but air. 

Rat, sensing the tension, excused himself from the other table and scurried over, sitting next to Basilio. 

"It's hard, isn't it? Trying to keep in touch with people on other teams? I mean, you've got different time zones to worry about. Different practice schedules. And you don't even know if they'd want to hear from you in the first place."

Peanut stared at his half-eaten burger. 

"You know," Sexton spoke up, "We've been having a hard time with that too."

"You see... there's more of us who were affected Ten more of us, in fact," Rat continued, "We lost five of them to the Feedback. One got sent to the shadows. And the other four... well, they were taken by The Shelled One. And they didn't come back."

For the first time possibly ever, Peanut wondered how the Pies handled his departure. He'd never felt that they'd cared before, but... seeing the current size of the Tacos, and learning about how many they had lost. 

A little part of him wondered if they missed Jess more. 

"And don't get us wrong," Basilio took the conversation back. "Us four here, we've kind of embraced the whole hivemind thing. But when the entire team was a hivemind it... wasn't exactly easy. Not everyone enjoyed it. And I fear that some of those who did enjoy it are struggling now that they've been disconnected."

"Query: Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Well, for starters, you asked," Basilio smiled a little, "But also... I don't know. We can't help but feel a bit of a kindred spirit in you is all. None of us asked to be like this. We all thought we were just here to play ball. We were all permanently changed by forces beyond our control. And we're all still learning to cope with that."

"And," Mcdowell added, "You seemed like you could use a shoulder to lean on. You haven't talked to anyone on the Firefighters about what happened, have you?" 

"Negative. They speak to me about it sometimes. Say kind things when I appear to be down. But I do not talk about it. Query: How could you tell?"

"When you've shared brainspace with thirteen other people, you get a little better at reading the room."

And, just as Peanut was getting comfortable enough to open up to the Tacos, the music over the speakers began to echo, bouncing around the room. 

"Reverb!" Lou shouted, "Everybody do the wave!"

Hands went up in the air as the reverberations grew larger, sound waves scooping up the players and gently carrying them throughout the room. Peanut had heard the reverberations, but this was the first time he could remember that it had actually hit him, as he found himself bobbing up and down in what felt like an invisible ocean flooding the OUT-N-OUT-N-OUT-N-IN. The other players laughed--he saw Vito and Valentine exchange a high five as they floated by each other. Somebody threw a beach ball and the next thing he knew everybody was hitting it back and forth.

As quickly as it started, it ended, and butts landed in seats as the music crackled overhead once more. 

Peanut looked around. 

Rivers and Isaac had ended up at a booth with both Basilios. Next to them, Hex and Declan had somehow gotten into a burger eating contest. Socks curled up around Baby on top of an empty table. Rat was cooking burgers behind the counter. 

And Peanut was seated on the far side of the restaurant, across the table from Peanutiel and Nutty. 

The three sat in silence. 

“Query: do either of you want a burger?”

* * *

"Hey, so this was fun!" Declan said as the group walked out of the restaurant, "I uh. Still have no idea what a 3X2 Frogbert Style is. Hey next time do you think we could go to..." He furrowed his brow in concentration. "Taco Del Del Taco Del Taco Taco Del?"

"Oh, you mean Del Taco? Yeah, sure!"

* * *

**Act II: once upon a time (this place was beautiful and mine)**

Peanut looked out his hotel window at the infinite cities of Los Angeli. The infinite cities stared back, in the form of brake lights, mysterious glows, and flashy billboards advertising such indulgences as delivery spray cheese. Tomorrow morning, they all flew back to Chicago, where he was from, to play the next game. 

But right now, it was 1am, and he couldn't sleep. 

He'd spent the time since returning to his room alternating between attempting to sleep and doing as much research on the Unlimited Tacos as he could. They had only ever had one incineration. One of their players was in the shadows. And, due to the success of the Snackrifice, they had lost six players to the PODS team. He thought back, trying to remember anything about them (but then again his memories from that time were always fuzzy). The PODS didn't exactly have a lot of time for socializing--when they weren't training, they were Shelled. He remembered doing drills alongside Wyatt Pothos. Being asked to show Alejandro Leaf how to hold a bat. Silently gloating that he was at least a better batter than Pitching Machine. He remembered Wyatt Quitter decimating the Baltimore Crabs. He hoped she was doing alright in Tokyo. He wondered how they were all adjusting.

Peanut sighed. He wasn't going to get any sleep like this. Whatever, at least staying up all night was better than dealing with a PODS nightmare. He grabbed his room key, put on a pair of slippers, and left the room. 

He'd passed by the vending machine earlier, taking note that everything in it seemed to be free. He remembered someone mentioning at some point that the Tacos were fully anticapitalist, so he supposed it only made sense. He waited for it to dispense his Diet Dr. Plepsi with a clunk, before walking back down the hall to his room. He slipped the keycard in the door, pulled it out, saw the light on the doorknob turn green, turned the handle, and--

"You're still too weak. You don't have enough hate. And you know something?"

Peanut was sure he hadn't left the TV on before he went out. For starters, he usually didn't watch TV. Particularly not what appeared to be... anime? But before he could process the image of one cartoon boy getting beat up by another, he heard a yelp:

"holy shit, floating clothes!"

He looked down at his t-shirt and pajama pants. Yeah, he could understand why someone would see him as floating clothes. 

Wait.

Why was someone in here??

Peanut looked at the bed and, if he tilted his head at a specific angle, he could see the neon-colored outline of a man. It was like looking at a holographic Tlopps card, in part because of how the man shone unnaturally in different spots depending on how Peanut looked at him.

"uhh sorry floating clothes, thought this room was empty, i'll head to the next room over"

And in part because Peanut realized he was looking at a player. 

"Query: Are you Wyatt Dovenpart?"

A former player, anyway. 

"haha yeah, how did you know?"

"I've done my research."

"wow, that's pretty sick. hey floating clothes do you wanna watch naruto with me?"

"My name is Peanut Holloway."

"oh shit peanut! no way dude, you're like, the shelled one's henchman right? that's what everyone is saying. damn hope that fucker dies soon"

"...You are unaware of recent events."

"wym"

"The Shelled One was killed at the end of last season."

"oh no way. thats sick bro. hey do you mind moving out of the way, your floating shirt is in front of the tv and this fight slaps"

Peanut sighed and resigned himself to sitting in the only chair in the hotel room, letting Wyatt keep the bed. He tried to tune into the tv show--the background shifted to blood red, and the characters were drawn in black and white, for some reason. 

"Query: What is going on?"

"oh itachi used his tsukuyomi, you see. it's basically like a ninja illusion mind trick that he can use to slow down time and stab you over and over. but in like, a psychological torture sort of sense."

"I see," Peanut said, not understanding it at all. "Query: Why are you watching Naruto in my hotel room?"

"well, for some reason you can't access nletflix or crunchlyroll from the shadows, but it feels too weird to be in my apartment right now, so usually i just find an empty room to watch."

"Query: How often do you do this?"

"oh, every day. yeah, it fuckin rules. can't play blaseball anymore meaning i can watch all the naruto i want. can't tear the fabric of reality apart when you're watching naruto. oh look guy's about to kick his ass"

Peanut watched as an older-looking character with a bowlcut leapt into frame and jump-kicked another character across the face. 

"Query: You came to my hotel room to sit alone and watch Naruto at one in the morning?"

"well i didn't know it was your hotel room. damn must be like, fate or something. shits crazy like that, you know? must be fate for us to sit here and watch naruto together. fuck yeah"

Peanut took a moment to process all of this information, synthesizing it with his prior knowledge. 

"You caused the Grand Unslam."

It wasn't a query, but a statement of fact. He had read online that Wyatt pitched that game. Something about a particular throw causing a 502 Bad Gateway, erasing four runs and causing spacetime to tear. 

Wyatt stared unblinking at the TV. 

"i did"

The air in the room turned cold. The two sat in silence, Peanut watching Wyatt, Wyatt watching Naruto. 

"sorry if i don't have much to say about that. i'm busy watching naruto"

"You watch Naruto every day. And you do not wish to speak about the past."

"yeah what of it"

"My calculations suggest that this may not be a healthy coping mechanism."

"well what else am i supposed to do? the fans kicked me off the team, said they wanted to downsize. did it right after we lost like half our roster too. we were already mourning losing everyone else and then they had to add my sorry ass to the list too" 

"I'm sorry."

"no, no, it's alright, it's just," Wyatt rolled over on the bed to face Peanut, "i'm not gonna lie. you're the first real person i've talked to since i got sent to the shadows."

"Query: You haven't spoken to your teammates?"

"what would i even say? sorry for ruining your lives and destroying our city? alright, look, see that guy on screen?"

Peanut looked at the man on the screen. His eyes were a deep red, with strange symbols floating within. Over his black hair he wore a decorative headband with a slash cut through it. 

"that's itachi, right? he's sasuke's brother. he killed his whole clan and then ran away to join the akatsuki, leaving sasuke as the sole survivor"

"I am following."

"like, alright, but later on in the series--hold on, you don't mind spoilers, right?"

"I do not mind."

"okay cool. well if whoever's reading this doesn't want to have the plot of naruto spoiled just feel free to skip to act iii, you're not missing much."

"Query: Who are you speaking to?"

"oh right, you can't see them if you're not in the shadows. don't worry about it"

And before Peanut could question him any further, he delved into an explanation of the entire overarching plot of Naruto.

"so later on in the series, it's revealed that itachi actually had to kill his whole clan because they were plotting to take over the hidden leaf village, it was a whole thing. he gets this like, sick cool redemption arc that everybody either loves or hates. the third hokage basically gave him a choice: either let the attempted coup happen and have the entire uchiha clan be killed including sasuke, who was a kid at the time, or kill the whole clan himself, and be allowed to spare sasuke. he destroyed everything close to him in order to save the village and to save his brother."

"I understand."

"i just like. i don't know. sometimes i wonder what it's gotta be like to be itachi. i mean, dude was forced to kill his entire family. he felt so guilty about it that he told sasuke he did it to test his abilities, not that he'd done it to save the village. tried to get sasuke to hate him enough to eventually kill him"

"Query: Does he?"

"no. they finally have their long-awaited battle in shippuden. itachi ends up dying to save sasuke's life. its real tragic n shit"

Peanut sat in the uncomfortable chair, waiting for Wyatt to continue. The streaming service autoplayed to the next episode, a catchy song about fighting dreamers filling the silence.

"it's just like. what's it like to take the fall for ruining everything? what's it like to know that your own family hates you for something you did?"

"Certainly something you can not relate to."

"very funny"

"I do not believe the Tacos hate you, if it is any consolation."

"well maybe they should!" Wyatt's body began to glitch out a little, his shoulder and knee flickering into different dimensions and colors. 

"it's just like. i don't know what any of them think about me anymore. itachi was at least able to do something to get sasuke to hate him before he left. i did something, fucked everyone's lives up, fucked our entire city up, and then six years later half of us are kidnapped by the shelled one and i'm sent to the shadows. and like, what the fuck am i supposed to do about that? i can't just undo the unslam! i can't get our names fixed! i can't get nan back to how he was before! i can't bring back pothos or patel or leaf or anyone! they wouldn't have offered to be snackrificed if it wasn't for me and my stupid pitch!"

Something finally clicked in Peanut's head as Wyatt freaked out, the glitching growing more and more erratic. 

"You've been disconnected from the mental link."

Wyatt froze in place.

"well yeah. i thought it was obvious"

"They often told you you were blameless. They often reassured you when you were anxious."

"how do you know all that?"

Peanut thought back to days he spent alone in his room, sitting in the dark, staring at nothingness, like had done when he was Shelled. He thought back to Justice knocking on the door to deliver a bowl of mac and cheese. To Declan's near-daily offers to play video games together. To Joshua sitting him down and asking him sincerely if he thought speaking to a professional would help. To Lou inviting him to post-game Portillo's every single home game, no matter his performance. To every single time someone emphasized that, no matter what, as long as he wanted to be, he was from Chicago. 

"Because the Firefighters have done the same for me."

Wyatt sighed, the glitching subsiding as he shifted into a sitting position. 

"i should just talk to them shouldn't i? fuck it's just. so hard!"

"I understand."

"you just said you have a whole team that has your back! you're like... you're like naruto, okay. naruto messes a lot of stuff up, but he has sasuke and sakura and kakashi to back him up a lot of the time. i'm itachi, no one's backing me up except occasionally the akatsuki but that's a complicated and fraught relationship in of itself."

"You have the Unlimited Tacos. You are the only one stopping yourself from reaching out." 

"easier said than done"

"I agree."

The two sat and watched an orange-clad ninja--Naruto, Peanut guessed--hold a water balloon in his hand. He was attempting to use some sort of innate magic to pop the water balloon, but it was going poorly. 

"you know, you might be more like naruto than i thought."

"Do explain."

"you see, when naruto was a baby, he had the nine-tailed fox sealed within him. the nine-tailed fox is basically a big evil demon that was going to destroy the whole village, and the only way the fourth hokage could stop it was to seal it within his own newborn son. so the entire village was scared of naruto, because they knew he had this monster sealed inside of him, and were afraid it might be unleashed. in the process of sealing the monster, the fourth hokage died, which made the villagers even more terrified, because the hokage's supposed to be like, the best ninja of the village. so the entire village was just terrified of naruto, and that terror turned into hate and they all feared and hated him for something he couldn't control"

"..."

"are you nodding your head? i can't really tell"

"Affirmative. Sorry. I am just. Thinking about what you have said."

"you used to do loads of pranks, right? heard that through the irm. that was also naruto's thing--all he wanted was someone to pay attention to him, so he'd cause all sorts of mischief to make it happen. he just wanted someone to give him the time of day."

"..."

"i'm just saying, you could learn a lot from this show. it's got like morals and shit"

"Query: Have you learned a lot from it?"

"fuck yeah man i've learned that there's no such thing as destiny and that i can always trust my friends and shit like that"

"You should try to trust your friends then."

"so should you."

"So should I."

* * *

Peanut wasn't sure when he dozed off, but by the time he woke up, Wyatt Dovenpart was gone. The TV was still on, taunting him with a menu asking if he was still watching Naruto. 

Peanut reached for the hotel notepad and jotted down a few notes to himself, tearing off the page and shoving it in his jacket pocket. 

  
  


* * *

**Act III: i remain so lost (buried under everything that i need)**

The Firefighters and Tacos piled out of the bus, finding themselves outside of the surprisingly normal and ordinary Blurbank International Airport. The Tacos unanimously agreed that it was just the easier airport to use than the several LAX's layered on top of each other. The group walked down a roped off side hallway leading them to the Tacos' private jet. 

"Hey Rivers?" Lou whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Why are we hitching a ride on the Tacos' plane again?"

"Peanutiel took a look at our books and, well, the usual tour bus wasn't in the cards for us this year. Something about back taxes and an expensive court case. The Tacos were nice enough to let us share, since we're both headed back to Chicago."

"Where we're from."

"Yeah where we're from."

* * *

Peanut found himself in a middle seat--the worst seat on a plane, by far. 

Worse, he found himself sitting between Peanutiel and Nutty. 

Cursing Al Pastor for demanding that the flight be seated in alphabetical order by first name, Peanut took a borrowed book out of his backpack. Something called _Season of Magical Thinking_ , by Jloan Didion--Kennedy thought it would help him, somehow. He found it more depressing than anything else, but, well. A part of him was glad that he was capable of feeling depressed. 

The plane lifted off into the air. Behind the trio, Rivers was chatting quietly with Sexton and Rat. Peanut heard faint meowing under his seat--Socks must be in a cat carrier down there. He settled into his seat, flipping to a bookmarked page and beginning to read. 

It was a memoir about being emotionally detached due to grief. Jloan had an interesting writing style, Peanut gave her that, but he struggled to concentrate with Nutty next to him, kicking their legs back and forth and humming to themself. On his other side, Peanutiel shifted around in his seat, stretching his wings in odd directions while looking over some complicated-looking paperwork.

Peanut sighed and put the book away, replacing it with his iPlad and earbuds. He went to a video app where he could pick out a movie from his library and--who put Naruto on here?? Peanut groaned. The world was out to get him today. 

"Oh, I know him!" Nutty said, peering over the top of the newspaper. 

"Query: What?"

"Yeah, Naruto and I go way back!"

"Query: _What?_ "

Peanut was grateful Nutty couldn't see his absolutely flabbergasted expression. 

"Yeah he's a cool guy! We were drinking buddies back in the day."

No part of Peanut knew how to process any of this information. He went to put his earbuds in but...

_"he just wanted someone to give him the time of day."_

Dammit, was Wyatt's whole Naruto comparison speech getting to him? 

He shifted around in his seat, putting the earbuds back on the tray table. 

"Nutty."

"Yuh huh?"

"You were previously on the Miami Dale."

"I sure was!" They contorted their arms into the shape of a heart over their head. 

"Query: How have you been adjusting to the Unlimited Tacos?"

Nutty smiled brightly, "I think they're the bees knees!"

"Query: You do not miss your former team?"

Nutty suddenly frowned, crossing their arms, "Why're you asking me all these questions, huh?"

"I just... I am simply trying to understand you better. I suppose."

"Are you trying to understand me better or are you trying to feel less guilty about everything?"

Nutty spoke plainly that time--no antics, no goofy animations. They looked up at Peanut with wide eyes--youthful, yet piercing all the same.

"Q-Query: What do you mean?"

"Like, do you care? Do you actually care about my life and all that? Or is this just your way of dealing with the fact that we went through the same shit together? You and me and him," They gestured to Peanutiel, who hardly looked up from his paperwork, "The three of us who were chosen by an evil god to fight our friends."

Peanut was stunned into silence. 

"You were really mean on the PODS, you know."

"... I know."

"You kept talking about how good of a hitter you are. How everyone's going to finally see you and know your name. How you were going to single handedly lead us to victory."

"I know."

"So like, what is this then? What is this about?" 

Nutty had a level of intensity Peanut had never seen before. He thought through his words and took a deep breath, but before he could say what he'd wanted to, they rolled their eyes and leaned back against the window.

"Whatever."

Nutty snatched their newspaper up and went back to reading it. 

Peanut sighed. What was all that about? 

**_HE HAS A POINT._ **

Peanut jumped and turned around to see Peanutiel staring at him with a multitude of eyes. Peanutiel didn't have a mouth, but was able to communicate telepathically--something that startled Peanut every single time. He asked him about it once, but Peanutiel insisted that he was speaking like a normal human accountant. 

"Query: What do you mean?"

Peanut kept his voice low, embarrassed that Nutty could hear his half of the conversation. 

**_YOU DID NOT ASK QUESTIONS LIKE THIS AT THE OUT-N-OUT-N-OUT-N-IN. THAT IS WHY IT FEELS DISINGENUOUS._ **

"..."

**_YOU HAVE NOTICED THAT THE FIREFIGHTERS HAVE ALWAYS TREATED YOU AS A FRIEND. YOU STRUGGLE TO DO THE SAME TO OTHERS, DO YOU NOT?_ **

"... I suppose I do."

**_IS IT EASIER WHEN THOSE YOU ARE TRYING TO BEFRIEND DO NOT REMIND YOU OF THE SHADOWS OF YOUR PAST?_ **

"Affirmative. Of course it is."

**_PEANUT HOLLOWAY. I SAY THIS TO YOU AS A FRIEND. AND AS SOMEONE WHO MIGHT UNDERSTAND ON SOME LEVEL WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH. YOU WERE NOT A KIND PERSON WHEN I KNEW YOU ON THE PODS. YOU WERE FOCUSED ON GLORY, NOT FOR THE SHELLED ONE, BUT FOR YOURSELF._**

**_THAT WAS THEN. THIS IS NOW. BE NOT AFRAID OF MAKING NEW FRIENDS. BUT KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL HEALING IN OUR OWN WAYS. DO NOT LET YOUR HEALING TRAMPLE ANOTHER'S._ **

"..."

**_ARE YOU NODDING YOUR HEAD? I APOLOGIZE BUT IT IS DIFFICULT FOR ME TO TELL._ **

"Affirmative. I think I understand what you are saying."

**_HEED MY ADVICE, PEANUT HOLLOWAY. YOU WILL BE A HAPPIER PERSON FOR IT._ **

"Query: May I ask a query?"

**_GO AHEAD. YOU NEED NOT ASK._ **

"Query: What if it's too late for me? Query: What if I've already messed everything up? Query: What if I cannot fix the past?"

**_YOU CANNOT FIX THE PAST. THAT IS FACT. YOU ARE, AS FAR AS I AM AWARE, NOT A TIME TRAVELER. AND EVEN THE TIME TRAVELERS OF THE LEAGUE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO FIX THE PAST._ **

**_YOU CAN, HOWEVER, DISCIPLINE YOURSELF. YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THE MISTAKES THAT YOU HAVE MADE, AND RESOLVE TO NOT MAKE THEM IN THE FUTURE._ **

"I understand, but--"

**_I AM NOT FINISHED. YOU CAN DISCIPLINE YOURSELF. YOU CAN ALSO FORGIVE YOURSELF. YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON TO HAVE A TROUBLED PAST. BUT NO MATTER WHAT, WE ALL HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD. AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO LEST YOU FORGIVE YOURSELF._ **

"... Thank you, Peanutiel. That was surprisingly helpful. You are very good at giving advice."

**_I AM BUT A HUMBLE ACCOUNTANT. BUT YOU ARE WELCOME. I ENJOY GIVING OUT ADVICE, AS OF COURSE, THE SHELLED ONE WILL RETURN, AND IT IS OUR DUTY TO--_ **

"Yes. Yes. I get it. Yes." Peanut was grateful no one could see him roll his eyes. 

**_WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SPEAK TO THEM?_ **

The mental image of Peanutiel and Nutty holding a half-telepathy half-spoken conversation about him directly over him in the middle seat made Peanut cringe. 

"Negative. But. Thank you for offering."

**_I CAN ALSO BACK YOU UP IN THE CONVERSATION, IF THAT IS PREFERRED. ACT AS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT._ **

"That... would be nice, actually. Thank you."

**_OF COURSE. WE EACH HAVE VERY LITTLE IN THIS WORLD. BUT. FIREFIGHTERS HAVE EACH OTHERS BACKS, RIGHT?_ **

And before Peanut knew it, the peanut seraph he now called his friend was looping Nutty in to their conversation.

**_PEANUT BONG. BE NOT AFRAID. IT IS I, PEANUTIEL DUFFY, ACCOUNTANT OF THE CHICAGO FIREFIGHTERS, SITTING IN SEAT 6C ON THIS AIRCRAFT. I HAVE SPOKEN TO PEANUT HOLLOWAY. HE HAS SOMETHING THAT HE WISHES TO SAY TO YOU._ **

Nutty turned their neck 180 degrees to look at the two nuts in their row. 

"Whaddya whaddya whaddya wanna say?"

Peanut took a deep breath and cleared his throat. 

"Nutty. I am sorry."

"Whatcha sorry for?"

Nutty stared at him, unblinking. 

"I am sorry for my attitude in the last few years. I am sorry for never trying to get to know you better earlier. And," Another deep breath here, "I am sorry for trying to pry into your life."

Nutty turned their head back around and went back into their newspaper. 

**_PEANUT BONG. YOU HAVE HEARD WHAT PEANUT HOLLOWAY HAS TO SAY. AND YOU IGNORE IT?_ **

"Why shouldn't I?"

**_LIKE IT OR NOT, WE WERE ALL CHOSEN BY THE SHELLED ONE. OUR FATES HAVE BEEN INTERTWINED. THOSE FATES HAVE SINCE ENDED, FOR NOW. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO REMAIN ISOLATED FROM YOUR FELLOW NUTS, THAT IS YOUR PREROGATIVE. BUT. PEANUT HOLLOWAY HAS JUST ADMITTED TO HIS PAST TRANSGRESSIONS. ARE YOU UNABLE TO FORGIVE HIM?_ **

Nutty's neck stretched cartoonishly long so they could flip their head upside down to face Peanut again. They stared unblinking for a moment, before blowing a raspberry and disappearing back behind the newspaper. 

**_WELL. I TRIED FOR YOU._ **

"Thank you, Peanutiel."

Peanut sighed. 

"Nutty. Peanutiel is right about our fates. But. Even if he was not. Even if we were not connected by what happened to us. And later. By what we did. I still would like to try and become your friend. If it is at all possible. I know I have been... an ass. But--"

Nutty poked back around the newspaper, a comic grin on their face.

"Did you just say ass?"

"A-Affirmative."

And Nutty laughed, louder than what's normally polite on an airplane, and Peanut couldn't help but laugh a little too. It felt... natural. Normal, even. He saw Lou's head turn around in the seat in front of him, probably wondering what the commotion was all about. 

**_PEANUT BONG, HAVE YOU FOUND IT WITHIN YOURSELF TO FORGIVE PEANUT HOLLOWAY?_ **

Peanutiel's telepathy cut through the cheery air. Nutty's laughter ended as quickly as it had started. 

"Look. I forgive you. But you gotta promise not to try and psychoanalyze me or any of that, alright bub? I just wanna be normal..."

That last sentence came out with a twinge of melancholy. Peanut looked at Nutty and could see that they were trying to hold back their tears--not a difficult observation, given Nutty's track record for highly visible displays of emotion. 

"Query: You have previously asked me not to psychoanalyze you. But. Do you want to talk about it?"

And Nutty began bawling in two large waterfalls and their tears began to fill up the aisle of the plane, and they babbled about how all they ever wanted to do was play ball and make friends, not get tangled up in all of this god shit. And just like their laughter, it ended as quickly as it started, the river disappearing off to who knows where.

**_PEANUT BONG. ARE YOU OKAY?_ **

"Yeah, I just..." They trailed off. 

"Nutty." Peanut started, "We can never go back to the way we used to be. We were all permanently changed by forces beyond our control. And we're all still learning to cope with that."

Nutty sniffled. "Yeah, you're right."

"We do not have to talk any further about this. I understand how hard it is. For both of us. For all three of us. For..."

He pulled the crumpled note out of his pocket, and carefully unfolded it.

  * Wyatt Quitter - Tokyo Lift
  * Francisca Sasquatch - Miami Dale
  * Patel Beyonce - Dallas Steaks
  * Alejandro Leaf - New York Millennials
  * Wyatt Pothos - Breckenridge Jazz Hands
  * Pitching Machine - Seattle Garages
  * York Silk - Canada Moist Talkers
  * Jaylen Hotdogfingers - San Francisco Lovers



"For all of us."

All three sat quietly as they looked over the note. 

"We should call them sometime."

* * *

For the rest of the flight, Nutty regaled Peanut and Peanutiel with tales of hanging out with Naruto and other copyrighted friends. They made plans to steal Declan's XBOX after that day's game ( **_HE DOES NOT NEED IT ANYWAY. YOU HAVE SEEN HIS POOR BATTING SKILLS, NO? IT IS BETTER IF WE TAKE IT. RIVERS ROSA TOLD ME THAT ONE TIME._ **) and play something together, just the three of them. Peanut wasn't sure if any of them knew anything about video games, but... having plans was nice. He ignored all rules of airplane etiquette and unplugged the headphones from his iPad, playing an episode of Naruto for all three to watch together.

Before he knew it, the plane landed, and the entire group of two teams herded into the fire trucks that would transport them to the stadium. 

"Well," Nutty said, "The Tacos are headed to that truck. I guess I'll see you both after the game!"

**_FAREWELL._ **

"Goodbye, Nutty."

They watched them turn the rest of their body into a miniature biplane and fly into the firetruck, cutting an annoyed Sexton in line. 

"What's his damage?" Lou whispered to Rosa, noticing Sexton's displeasure.

"Oh, nothing. I just beat him at tic-tac-toe 542 times in a row." Rosa stuck her tongue out and hopped into the drivers seat of one of the fire trucks. "Yo nuts, you coming?"

"Affirmative." 

And the two nuts piled into the jumpseats, headed off for the day's game. As the sirens blared down the streets of Chicago (where they were all from), Peanut found himself leaning against Peanutiel, the exhaustion of his late night setting in. No matter, he thought, there will be coffee at the Firehouse. And after the game, I will see my... my friends. 

And hopefully, the others will be our friends too.

* * *

**Epilogue: i like to say that it's easy to stay (but it's not for me (because i'm barely here at all))**

Basilio Mason walked into their Van Nuys apartment after a long few days away from Los Angeli, taking their shoes off at the door and flipping on the lights. They hadn't won every away game that week, but they'd won some--he was proud of the whole team for that. It had been their best season yet so far. 

"What's that sound..." They mumbled to themself as they flipped through the mail. Tossing it into the recycling, they walked into their living room where--

"I finally remembered something..." The intense voice of a young woman came from the TV, "I've been chosen… As the Fifth Hokage of the--"

Wyatt Dovenpart paused the TV from his spot on the couch and looked at Basilio. 

"hey."

"Wyatt… what are you doing in my apartment?"

"watching naruto."

Basilio walked over to the couch and squatted next to Wyatt. 

"Why are you really here?"

"i… i'm sorry. and i miss you. all of you."

And Basilio stood back up and gave Wyatt the tightest hug he could.

"We all miss you too."

"and i'm sorry that i ruined all of your lives and am now stuck in the shadows for it and I'm sorry that i destroyed the city and" and the words flowed out of Wyatt's mouth faster than he could think them, tears beginning to pour down his face as Basilio shushed him, grabbing a tissue to wipe his cheeks. 

"Wyatt, we don't hate you. We never have."

"you promise?"

"I promise."

Basilio went to grab another tissue from the box, then, thinking better of it, grabbed the entire box and plopped it in Wyatt's lap, before nestling in onto the couch next to him. 

"We miss you a lot Wyatt. We really do. And none of us wanted you to get sent to the shadows."

"you promise?" He asked in between little sobs.  
  
"I promise. Promise me you'll stick around for a while? I'll even watch Naruto with you."  
  
"... i promise."

**Author's Note:**

> hi everyone i sure wrote a lot of words about peanut holloway huh
> 
> thank you to everyone who read this and reassured me that it was okay  
> my apologies to joan didion  
> i refuse to apologize to masashi kishimoto.  
> title and act names all stolen from marianas trench songs, stream masterpiece theatre on your music service of choice
> 
> hope you enjoyed xoxo


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